Team Kaiser – Pete Kaiser and 8 dogs in harness – arrived into the Bethel Finish Line this morning at 9:17am to claim the first ever Four in a Row Championship of the Kuskokwim 300.

A huge throng of well wishers, friends, family, and sponsors gathered to cheer on the great looking Team cross the line. Followed by the talented leader, Palmer, who has led the Team to each of the Championships, Pete had nothing but praise for the Team. “It’s just an awesome experience to work with this Team.”

Extreme -35 degree wind chill temperatures did nothing to cool the spirits of the crowd who shared cheers, hugs, and pats on the back with each other and Pete. After photos and speaking to news crews, it was off to Ron and Janet’s home where the core Team gathered for Breakfast and Coffee to hear Pete share stories from the trail.

Thanks to every one of you who follows and supports Team Kaiser. It is why we do this!! The support from the community and all of our Rural Alaska friends as well as fans Worldwide make all this possible. Thank you!

Team Kaiser has a comfortable 10 mile lead on the second position Musher, Joar Leifseth-Ulsom. At 7:40am, Pete and the Team are showing 16 miles from the Finish Line and are traveling nicely at 9mph or so. The Tracker has been notoriously off this Race, so I’d grab yourself a cup of coffee and head on down and socialize with the rest of us, just in case the Team put it into AFTERBURNER and show up early!!

Anything can happen anywhere in any race, so rub your lucky rabbits foot and let’s cheer on Team Kaiser to possibly their FOUR Pete Finish in the 2018 Kuskokwim 300.

Pete and 9 dogs are into the Tuluksak Checkpoint for the last 4 hour mandatory rest. Pete checked in at 12:08AM (00:08) He will leave at 4:08am for the 4:30-5hour run into Bethel. He is still at least 30 minutes in front of second position musher Joar Leifseth-Ulsom.

That puts a race finish sometime between 8 and 9am tomorrow morning!

So get to bed as Pete takes his break and get up early tomorrow to tune into the Tracker. (It is fixed and we should be able to follow his progress)

One IMPORTANT NOTE!!

The trackers this year are very behind. Sometimes they are taking a bit to update and even then seem to be about 30 minutes behind. (I know this because I arrived what I thought was 30 minutes early to find both Pete and Nik already in the checkpoint) So be cautious and BE THERE!!

Comments Off on 2018 K300- Enough of the Photos, Already! Let’s have some NEWS!

It’s been a busy day on the trail for the 2018 Kuskokwim 300. With all of the activity and photos and all of that, what’s been GOIN ON??

It’s a seriously tough trail and several Teams have decided that it was in their best interest to leave the trail and scratch from the race. So far four Teams, including Smyth, Burmeister, Sass, and Holmes are back in Bethel safe and sound. (Updated)

On the trail, Pete and his Team are leading the pack at this point, but unfortunately Pete’s tracker has also decided to scratch so we only know what we hear from the trail. Pete and the Team were into Bogus Creek at 9:55pm. He left with a 40 minute lead over Joar Liefseth-Ulsom who was just completing the last of his 6 hours of mandatory rest.

Teams will face one more 4 hour break in Tuluksak before the run to the Finish Line in Bethel. Pete was 29 minutes faster than Ulsom on the run from Bethel to Tuluksak. He took 2 hours 16 minutes to run up to Bogus, which when I spoke with him, he mentioned was in exceptional condition. The best section of the trail by far.

If the Team was in Bogus Creek at 9:55pm, that would put them back into Tuluksak at, say a bit past Midnight. Let’s say 12:15 for fun. Add a 4 hour rest allowing the Team to leave at 4:15 and a 5 hour run back to the finish. Pete should be back in the easy chair in time to watch the NFL Playoffs!!

Of course, like we will see shortly in an interview I got, anything can happen on this race and there really is still almost 1/4 of the race ahead.

In any case, the Team looked great in Bethel and although Pete had to leave 2 in Tuluksak, that still gives him 9 dogs in harness on the way back to Tuluksak.

Mushing Weather tonight-

…Dangerous Wind Chill Values of -40 F or lower for Sunday night...

Tonight, a disturbance dropping south along the coast will bring a reinforcing blast of cold air to the region. This may create dangerous wind chills of -30 to -40 F.

A 30 percent chance of snow before midnight. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around -14. Wind chill values as low as -35. Light northwest wind becoming north 10 to 15 mph after midnight.